Most Iconic VMA Moments: Lady Gaga’s Dress of Meat Has the Competition Beat

Welcome back to Celebuzz’s Most Iconic VMA Moments showdown. In anticipation of of the 2013 MTV VMA ceremony on August 25, we want you to help us name the most iconic VMA fashion moment ever. Last week, we asked you to vote for your favorite VMA performance. (Britney Spears’ 2001 performance of “I’m a Slave 4 U” won in that category.) This week, it’s all about the clothing (or lack thereof). Return each day this week for a new feature on each of our competing fashion statements. You may vote once per hour.

Is Lady Gaga’s “meat dress” the most iconic VMA fashion moment ever? Vote below, and read on for a look back at Gaga’s tasty 2010 appearance.

Lady Gaga Wore a Dress Made of Meat to the 2010 VMAs Because Of Course She Did, She’s Lady Gaga

Though it seems like Lady Gaga has been a staple of the MTV award show for decades, the fact is that she only made her VMA debut in 2009. If you recall, she made quite an impression. So, the following year, expectations were incredibly high. How would she top the performance, the never-ending parade of outrageous outfits? Well, she began by hitting the red carpet looking absolutely angelic in Alexander McQueen. She was escorted by gay American soldiers who’d been discharged under the now-defunct Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

But that was only just the beginning, because Gaga’s not one to keep things simple. Later, when she took the stage to accept the award for Best Pop Video, she’d changed into the black ensemble and spiked headpiece you see below. Memorable? Yes. Meat dress memorable? Not quite.

Gaga debuted her final ensemble — the one we’ve been waiting to talk about — when she accepted the evening’s final award for Video of the Year. At this point, it goes without saying, but: MEAT DRESS!!!!

She took the stage, passed her purse — also made of meat, of course — to Cher, and accepted the evening’s top honor. And, dressed head-to-toe in animal carcass, she did something else incredible: she sang, acapella, a snippet of her never-before-heard single, “Born This Way,” which would go on to to become one of the biggest hits of her career upon its release five months later.

Living, as we do, in the Age of the Internet, Gaga’s meat dress took on a life of its own, becoming the inspiration for countless jokes, memes, and other shenanigans.